Contents

Personality

Despite being a petty criminal, Fagin is essentially a good man driven to desperate measures to repay a debt to Bill Sykes. He greatly appreciates the attention of his gang of dogs, and understandably sees them as his own children. He is portrayed as somewhat illiterate, and he is absolutely terrified of Sykes- this is not cowardice, for Sykes is indeed a terrifying man.

At the end, he shows himself to be brave and not without a sense of honor and morality, playing a strong part in saving Jenny from Sykes. He is kind, cowardly, friendly, gentle, nice, generous, good-hearted, and clumsy.

Appearances

Fagin is first seen entering his barge with dog biscuits in hand while yelling at his dogs, telling them to stop their game "fight", which grabs the attention of the scrapping dogs, who leap onto him and welcome him home. Just as he is enjoying himself, Bill Sykes, to whom he has been lent a considerable sum of money, arrives. He looks at the "loot" the dogs have brought in and is dismayed to find it is all broken rubbish. He even notices Oliver.

Then, Sykes' Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto arrive, before Fagin can examine Oliver, and shoo him away so as to talk to their master. Having little choice, Fagin heads up to offer the items to Sykes anyway, who tells him that he doesn't want Fagin's garbage, he wants his money. Fagin begs for more time. Possibly because he knows dead men can't pay money back, Sykes gives him three more days, then honks his horn to call his dogs back, which frightens Fagin; causing him to fall off the dock and into the bay waters. He returns, soaking wet, to the houseboat; lamenting that he simply can't pay off all that money in just three days. His dogs comfort him (mostly Einstein) by giving him a dog biscuit to eat and then licking him after Fagin thanks his dogs. Then, he says he saw DeSoto's nose and asks who did it. Dodger picks up and reveals Oliver to him, meaning he's the rascal who did it, and Fagin comments that they could use all the help they can get and is proud that it was him. When it's time for bed, Einstein insists Fagin reads the gang a bedtime story. At first, Fagin is reluctant because he's too tired, but when he hears and sees Einstein whining sadly, Fagin accepts "but just 1 chapter" and later, they go to sleep.

The next day, Fagin drives with Oliver and the gang into New York on his scooter, leaves Dodger responsible for everything concerning Oliver, and informs the dogs that "Dead men do not buy dog food." therefore, telling them to "get out there and fetch". He then attempts to pawn his broken wares while the dogs and Oliver go on the hunt for money, merchandise, and food after agreeing with Dodger about helping their master with his financial problems with his evil boss.

At the end of the second day, Oliver, who now has a new home and owner from yesterday and was "saved" by the dog-gang and is sad because he wanted to stay, is returned to the houseboat, where Fagin notices his new collar and the wealthy district it is addressed to, after taking him back in when Oliver was intending to leave to go back to his new owner. He has the idea to ransom Oliver and, after dropping off the ransom note and rendezvous map to Oliver's owner, Jenny Foxworth (unknown to him), goes with Dodger to see Sykes with his offer after going over his plan about the ransom, pretending Dodger is Sykes. At first, Sykes, seeing Fagin doesn't have the cash in hand and hearing him discussing his plan with him awkwardly at first, sets Roscoe and DeSoto on him with one snap of the fingers, and Dodger protects him while he gabbles out his desperate plan loudly and properly this time and shows him Oliver as proof. After Sykes is convinced, he snaps his fingers again to tell his dogs to cease the attack. Then, Sykes notices the wealthy district engraved on Oliver's collar and assumes that Fagin is planning to kidnap the cat owner and gives him 12 more hours as his "last chance" when feeding dog biscuits to his dogs while Fagin and Oliver come to Dodger's aid after laying injured and unconscious and having received severe (but invisible) injuries from the attack.

On the same night, Fagin meets the lost Jenny with her pet poodle, Georgette. Not realizing at first that she is Oliver's wealthy cat owner, Fagin advises her to go home, given the tough neighborhood she's in. When she tells him that she's lost, he then asks her what she's doing at the shipyards by herself in the first place. He is visibly shocked when she tells him that she came to get her stolen cat back and has brought nothing more than a piggy bank as payment. Feeling guilty, he finally follows his good heart by giving up and pretending to find Oliver in a box, giving him back to Jenny. Sykes, who was watching the whole thing with his dogs in his car, makes his move, snatching Jenny, tossing Oliver out the window, and telling a shocked Fagin to keep his mouth shut and to consider their account closed.

Then, Dodger and the gang come to Oliver's aid. Dodger assures Oliver that they'll "absitively" get Jenny back. The dogs run to Sykes' warehouse without riding in Fagin's scooter this time. After the dogs have rescued Jenny, Fagin saves them from Sykes in his scooter. Thinking Sykes will not follow him in his car, he heads into a subway station and onto the tracks. Sykes follows him anyway and, during the climatic chase, Jenny is thrown onto the hood of Sykes' car, after his car collides with Fagin's scooter. Fagin leaves the driving to the dogs (specifically Tito) and tries to reach for Jenny when she calls for his help, with Einstein holding him, while Dodger and Oliver are fighting off Sykes' Dobermans. Eventually, she makes a jump, after having been caught by Sykes on the leg and then released, thanks to Oliver and Dodger, and he catches her as Tito drives the gang (except Oliver and Dodger) in the scooter onto one of the Brooklyn Bridge's suspension cables when a train is heading their way; escaping the same death as Sykes by inches. When the rest of the company drive back down, Jenny runs to search for Oliver, only to find a sad Dodger approaching; holding a "thought to be dead" Oliver. At first, everyone thinks Oliver is dead too but when Jenny hears him making a soft meow, she quickly realizes that he is alive and everyone is rejoiced, except Georgette, who is still in great shock from the chase. Then, Dodger and the rest of the gang are accepted as Jenny's new best friends.

The next day, at Jenny's home, during her 8th birthday party, Fagin encounters Winston, the family's butler, sings "Happy Birthday" with him to Jenny, and apparently makes a bet with Winston on the outcome of a wrestling game. When his fighter loses and he can't pay up, he sidles out of the house by using the time to leave as an excuse while grabbing an apple on his way before driving off with the dogs. Then, he says his good-byes to Jenny. Outside the mansion, after Fagin starts up his scooter, Winston gets smugged by its smoke. At the end, freed from his debt by Sykes and with him and his dogs dead, Fagin is free to start a new, more honest life, or at the very least his previous life of petty crime; free from the threat of a painful death. He is last seen driving, with the gang singing "Why Should I Worry" reprise, in his scooter as Jenny, Winston, and Oliver say good-bye to them and watch them as they return home.

Quotes

"All right, all right, knock it off! Enough! What's the matter with you guys? Don't you understand? Sykes will be here any minute. And I don't have... No, no, no, no, no! No, no. Stop it. No. No. No licking. What a joke! All right, settle down. Sykes!"

"All right, all right. I'm coming. I'll be right there. You guys, listen. Don't let me down. What do you got? Let's see what you got. It's worthless! What have you done? Oh, how are we ever going to pay Sykes off with a... a pussycat?"

"Oh.Look who's here, kids. Company. Nice doggies. I was just on my way out. "

"Actually, I've got something much better than money. Some luxury items that should make a considerable dent in my debt to you. Oh, my! You waxed your car, didn't you? Did they use the buffer on it, because I can see myself."

"Oh, please, Sykes. Oh, please. Oh, please."

"Oh, no! Oh, no, I did grasp it. This is how I grasp. Look. Accident. Accident! Ooh-hoo-hoo!"

"Three! Oh, you mean, just three days? Oh, my goodness! Oh, I'm having a bad day!"

"Ooh, three days."

"How am I ever gonna come up with all that money?"

"What's the use? I'll never get out from under that maniac. My days are numbered and the number is three. It's hopeless."

"Thanks, guys."

"That reminds me. I saw DeSoto's nose. Who did that?"

"You? You.That took a lot of guts. We've never had a cat in the gang before. We can use all the help we can get."

"Ahhh. All right. Time for bed. We've got a big day tomorrow."

"Aww, no. Oh, all right. But just one chapter tonight. Umm, let's see."

"Here we are. Here we are. Chapter seven. "Sparky stopped and he rolled in a field of wildflowers. The dandelions tickled his nose 'til he laughed out loud. And then something caught his eye. It was Bumper the rabbit. Sparky jumped to his feet and ran toward Bumper barking loudly." Woof. Woof. Well, you try it sometime."

"Well, that's because you're a dog. "Sparky knew that Bumper would run and that he could chase him over the field. But Sparky would never catch him or hurt him because Sparky was not that kind of a dog.""

"This is the big one. We've got two days to do or die. Dodger, you keep an eye on the new kid. Show him the ropes. I don't wanna put any undue pressure on you, but... as you march off to do your duty, I want you to keep one thing in mind:Dead men do not buy dog food! So, big smiles and get out there... and fetch!"

"Oh, it's hopeless."

"What's this? So that's where you've been!Looks like you're doing all right for yourself, Oliver. Your owner probably spends more money on catnip than we do on food in a month. He's probably worried sick about you. All alone in that big house with only his money to comfort him. Only his millions and millions of dollars to..."

"This is an airtight plan, Sykes. Sweet and simple. I ransom the kitty, and you get paid in full tomorrow. I'll even toss in a little extra for your patience. What d'ya say? It's my final offer. Take it or leave it."

"Oh..."

"Oh! Good question. But listen... if you're busy, we can drop by some other time."

"Now, where... Where is that cheque-book? Oh, look at the time. Well, heh-heh, we better be goin'."

"Francis, Rita, Tito, vamonos! The streets are calling!"

"Oh, bye-bye, Jenny."

"Come on, boys! It's time for us to go."

"Let's go!"

"Boys! Let's go!"

Trivia

It is never explained how a poor man such as Fagin came to be in possession of valuable purebreds like his dog friends, although it is possible that he either stole them or found them as strays and took them under his wing at some point.

In one of the earliest stages of production, the artists came up with four possible places for Fagin and his dogs to live in. The first was an old abandoned subway station, the second was a condemned building near the docks, which in the past had been a very famous theatre, the third was in the sewers beneath the Plaza Hotel, and the fourth was his boathouse, which ended up being chosen for story purposes.

Fagin wears four (presumably stolen) watches on his left arm. One of them has a picture of Mickey Mouse on it.

Although it is stated in the film that Fagin owes money to Sykes, it is never said what the exact amount was or when Fagin borrowed the money.

Dom DeLuise, Fagin's voice actor, was actually famous for voicing several characters from Don Bluth's movies until his death such as Jeremy in The Secret of NIMH, Tiger in An American Tail, Itchy in All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Stanley in A Troll in Central Park. He already had roles in several other animated films by this point, but this was the only time he got the chance to voice a character in a Disney film. He loved the role so much, he kept ad-libbing lines that ended up being included in the film.

In the original script, there was a flashback scene which explained that Fagin ended up owing money to Sykes, after borrowing it to participate in an illegal poker tournament in Chinatown, where he lost everything.

The man Fagin tries to pawn his watch to is a caricature of Peter Schneider, then vice-president of Disney animation.

During the chase, where Jenny is hanging on the front of Sykes' car, she yells Fagin's name for help. Slightly later, Fagin yells for Jennifer to jump. The two never introduced themselves earlier in the film, yet know each other's names.

During the chase on the bridge, Fagin's scooter jumps from the railway tracks to the bridge support wires. After it makes the jump, there's a medium shot of Dodger and Oliver attacking Sykes. In this shot, the scooter can be briefly seen on the left of the screen riding on the bridge supports. The previously full scooter is now completely empty (with not even a driver).